Jubilee, Calatrava, and MACRO

Richard Meier Jubilee Church

http://eternallycool.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/church-2000-exterior.jpg

I like this church, and how it addressed the area and the needs of the area. however, I did not like the area. I also think it's a shame that the church is kept fenced in. The central part of the interior was functional and emotional but the secondary spaces lacked the same feel and I found myself wishing that these spaces and the short free standing partitions that helped form them weren't there.

Calatrava Construction Site- Citta Della Sport

Photo Courtesy of Stephanie Cervantes
I really wish that some projects were allowed to remain unfinished. I feel like this project is much more interesting in it's current state than it will be when finished. I would hate to see it with a roof.

MACRO

Courtesy of Andrew Laux

I really liked everything about this display. It engaged the sense of smell, sight, and sound.

The building itself had some nice elements, the courtyard, rooftop, semi-circular stairs, and symmetry (oh yeah and a really cool bathroom), but I really think it's a shame when a building is not allowed to function as it was intended. What was intended to be public space was closed off, because someone decided that the courtyard entrance should be kept closed. It would have been really cool to see the space as a functional indoor/outdoor public space.

Stanley Hallet

Piazza di San Ignazio

Allahaısmarladık

It’s impossible for me to describe what happened in Turkey. All I can say is that now I feel like I have something to live for. Not anything concrete or certain, just that I have to get back there to find what it was that moved me so. The mosques, the calls, the people, the culture, the food, the smells, the nagile, the tea… I don’t know.

There’s no picture with this post because a picture cannot capture what I found there. I was given a glimpse into a different world, a different way of seeing things, a different life.

Yes, I still feel lost (I start to wonder if that feeling will ever go away) and perhaps even more sad, because I left me heart in another world.

But I promised Istanbul that I would come back, and I begged it to not forget me; I begged it to not let me forget it.

My Feet

I tried to remember to take a picture of my feet facing Mecca on the carpets in each mosque we entered.

It was my way of proving to and reminding myself that I was actually in Istanbul.

It grounded me and made me feel like I was part of the place.

It allowed me to examine the carpet and how people interact with it.

It provided human scale and intimate connection.

I only got 6 of the 10 mosques we visited (8 with the group)

I wish I had the rest, but I guess it's just another reason to go back...

I'll never forget how those carpets felt under my stockinged feet.

On Top of a Han

We followed the man upstairs to the roof of the han, and the view was phenomenol. A massive kodak moment ensued.

It's not real life, I swear.

Saint Francis Chapel

During Day3 we visited a Mosque we happened to pass by.

According to Strolling Through Istanbul this use to be a church that had a side chapel with the first known documentation of Saint Francis's life (a mosaic) inside.

We tried to find the aforementioned chapel, but it didn't see to be there.

Though this mosque clearly use to be a church and was clearly very old.

Later that day, we went to the Archaeological Museum...

And we can across this.

A display of the frescos and mosaics formerly housed in the Mosque we had visited earlier that day.

... oh the irony...

Istanbul Archaeological Museum

I really liked a lot of the ways they displayed things here.

There were pictures on the wall of enhanced details of statues in the room. It was fun to try to find these.

Wherever there was a headless body, there was also an array of heads.

... hmm... I think I'll wear this head today...

Broken objects were displayed so that you could understand how they may have looked/worked before.

The tombstones were set in a graveyard scene that could have fit into any haunted house.

This was a huge mosaic laid out on the floor. The lighting made fore wonderful pictures that capture the general idea from far away and excellent up close detail shots.

These columns continued into the floor, with glass plates where they met the floor line allowing them to be lit from below.

This room was set up with pieces that would have lined the walls (possibly doorways) of ancient buildings and allowed you to walk among them, underneath of the, and really experience them.

... And you could touch almost everything.

Istanbul Day5

Is it really possible that each day out did the one before it?

Really now? Just try to one up this.

View from the Restaurant on top of the hotel

(you could see the sun beam glancing off the water)

Topkapi

(the floor here was so cool)

(entrance to the Harem)

(another shot of the floor)

(holes in the ceiling allowed light in. it just lit the one side of the room)

(Queen Mother's chambers. beautiful chandelier)

(amazing craftsmanship, another floor shot)

(I loved these niches in the wall. So useful, yet decorative)

(awkward moment... still not sure what's going on here or why...)

(domed ceiling and lantern in the Sultan's Chambers)

(view through the window out onto the grounds below)

(perforated ceilings with shapes)

(the Prince's chambers; I would have given anything to have been him)

(why put sinks in the WINDOWS?... why NOT put sinks in the windows!)

(a look at the tile variety. here was excavation/study still in progress)

(loggia out to the final and most intimate court)

(oh that? that's just a rain gutter/drain... useful and gorgeous)

(the grounds)

(more of the grounds. I was moving quickly now because I was running out of time, but I had to stop to get this shot)

(views of Asia... so breath taking)

(I wish I had had more time)

On the boat to Uskudar

(this was the best decision of the entire trip)

(view looking back toward Europe as the sun approaches the horizon)

(the ferry reached the Uskudar stop. one more photo before I get off. no idea who that guy is...)

Kamera Sistemiyle Gozetlenmektedir

(finally a clear shot of the Mirab! I liked how clean this Keblar wall was. This mosque was more horizontal than the ones in Europe; it made a noticeable difference that we all felt)

(I kept an eye on the window to make sure we didn't miss the sunset)

Sunset

(waiting for the ferry)

(oh please hurry. can you imagine being on the ferry, watching the sunset, and hearing the call to prayer...)

(once on the ferry, the sun had slipped behind the clouds, but its glow was still so beautiful. this day, these images- along with the ones I couldn't record because my camera died- will be forever burned in my mind, a fact I wouldn't trade for anything in the world)

Boat to Dinner

(looking back at Europe. Who cares about the cold? There are somethings in life you CANNOT miss)